International Federation of Journalists (IFJ)

On 30 May 1996, the municipality of Smederevo assumed control of the independent Radio Smederevo. Municipal authorities cut off the station’s electricity and elected a new station manager and executive board after having broken into and occupying the station’s premises the previous day. This action follows a decision by the municipality of Smederevo to take […]

In the months of February and March 1996, several Albanian journalists were subject to physical attacks as well as other forms of harassment. On 16 March, Aleko Likaj, a correspondent with the newspaper “Koha Jone”, was seriously injured by three people over an article that he had previously written about the closure of a local […]

Karim Zaimovic, a twenty-four year-old journalist with the Sarajevo-based magazine “Dani”, died of his wounds on 13 August 1995. Zaimovic died in hospital, where he was taken after being wounded by a grenade on 7 August. According to the IFJ, Zaimovic is the 76th journalist to be killed in the former Yugoslavia since the start […]

Source: Palestinian Media Monitoring Centre (a project of the IFJ), Jerusalem **For background to previous incidents, see IFEX alerts dated 25 July, 10 July, 27 June, 16 May, 21 April 1995 and others** The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) ordered two opposition weeklies closed on 6 August 1995 in Gaza. Orders for the closures of the […]

Filip Cakuli, director of “Hosteni 2000” and General Secretary of the Association of Professional Journalists of Albania, was taken from his house on 20 June 1995, and interrogated by several policemen for 12 hours. The police searched the offices of “Hosteni 2000” and took setting copies from the plant where the magazine is printed. These […]

On 28 June 1995, a 550-pound bomb carried by what United Nations (UN) officials described as a makeshift rocket crashed into the television building in Sarajevo, killing a police guard and wounding 38 civilians, among them Bosnian and foreign journalists. The television tower which houses Bosnian and foreign television companies has often been hit during […]

The IFJ on 23 June 1995 warned European Union leaders meeting next week in Cannes that regulation of ethics in journalism should be left to journalists alone. A report on racism and xenophobia going to the Cannes EU Summit suggests that “certain effective sanctions mechanisms” should be considered if media breach ethical guidelines concerning reporting […]

The IFJ/FIEJ Coordinating Centre on 7 June 1995 reported that the Ministry of Transportation and Communication had begun closing down some private radio and television stations as of 17 May 1995. According to the IFJ/FIEJ Coordinating Centre, 45 radio and television stations have already been closed, because they did not obtain a licence to broadcast. […]

**Updates IFEX CH alerts dated 15 March and 28 February 1995** The IFJ reports that five of the six journalists from the weekly newspaper “Al Istiqlal” arrested in an 8 February raid remain in prison. They are: Atiyeh Abu Mansour, Khaled Sadeq, Nahed Kutkut, Muhammad Sayyad, and Zakariya Madhun. Izaddine Sharif is no longer in […]

**Updates IFEX CH alerts dated 15 December, 27 October and 26 August 1994** Goshu Mogues, editor of the weekly “Tobia”, sentenced to six months in prison, has since been released on bail. Habtamu Belete of “Rukhama”, has since been released after completing a six month prison term. Source: Ethiopian Free Press Journalists’ Association, Addis Ababa

Source: Ethiopian Free Press Journalists’ Association, Addis Ababa Eighteen journalists were arrested by plainclothes policemen in the first week of December 1994, reports the IFJ. The arrests are said to be part of a campaign of intimidation and harassment of journalists of the independent weeklies in Addis Ababa by security agents of the transitional government […]

Source: Journalists Union of Russia, Moscow A trial is pending in the case of the 67 year old journalist of Russian origin Stanislav Mitskevich. Mitskevich, a Russian citizen and retired journalist, began working as editor-in-chief of the Russian language services of the radio station Sovetskaya Litva (Soviet Lithuania) in Vilnius, Lithuania in 1990. He edited […]

**Updates IFEX CH alert dated 3 February 1995** The IFJ reports that “Finance Magazine”, whose offices were attacked on 1 February 1995, is publishing as usual again. It has apparently not been harassed in its operations since and is putting a magazine on the market at regular intervals.

Two journalists have been arrested by police on 30 March 1995, apparently as a result of an article they wrote in the newspaper “Harian Metro”. Johor police detained Yusaini Ali and Saniboey Mohd Ismail at their office. They are apparently being held under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) regarding a story on the kidnapping of […]

**Updates IFEX CH alert dated 14 July 1994** On 22 March, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia withdrew the tax on the Croatian independent satirical weekly “Feral Tribune”. A 50 per cent sales tax had been slapped on “Feral Tribune” from 1 July 1994. Normally such a tax is only applied to pornographic […]

Source: Journalists’ Union of Belarus (JUB) The IFJ is extremely concerned at recent developments in the Belarus media in the past month. The Journalists’ Union of Belarus (JUB) reports that three newspapers — “Sovetskaja Belarus”, “Zvezda”, and “Respublika” — have appeared with blank spaces where an article on political corruption was due to be published, […]